Monday, August 31, 2009

KATHMANDU: Community Self Reliance Centre (CSRC) today presented the annualaudit report publicly in a programme. It is a socially responsible practice that a on-governmental organisation publish its report publicly and be transaparent at a time when most such insitutions are condemned for their lack of transparency.According to the report, the total annualincome — donatedby the helping organizations — stands atRs 34,969,019.34 andexpenditure at Rs 27,583,104.53."From 2009, Actionaid Nepal, Care Nepal, CCO, DanidaHUGOU, MS Nepal and Oxfam GB will be funding CSRC by basket funding procedure," said Jagat Basnet, director of CSRC, adding that of the total amount spent Rs 27,583,104.53 was utilized, in which 81 per cent was spent on conducting programmes and 19 per cent of it on administrative functions. The total own income of the organization is estimated to be Rs 2,696,194.40 and expenditure Rs 1,195,902.23 in the fiscal year 2008-09.According to Puskar Acharya, finance and administrative coordinator of CSRC, some 939 landless families were able to get their land rights through CSRC initiatives. He added that these families had acquired around 403 bighas of land under their land rights. Sita Thapa Magar, member of Kanchanpur Land Reform Forum, said, "It is due to the initiatives of CSRC that many landless people like me today own their land and are able to utilize land facilities like other common citizens of the country." Adding to her voice, Sukhdev Chaudary — a farmer from Dang said that the programme has supported the haruwas of his village and other nearby villages as well.Hari Pudasaini, auditor of CSRC said, "Auditing procedure of our organization is transparent and thereby, other organisations should follow in CSRC's footsteps in this matter." He added that regular monitoring and management of the financial sector would strengthen the overall aspect of the organization. Since, 1993 CSRC has been working to enable deprived men and women to claim their right to land resources..

Hope this will encourage other NGO's and public entities to publish their annual report publically, which will secure people's right to proper information… pasang lama

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB) has temporarily suspended the registration of new financial institutions including commercial banks, development banks and finance companies.

The central bank decided Tuesday not to take any more applications seeking permission to open new financial institutions until a study on the number of financial institutions, services they are delivering and the need of the economy is completed, Kantipur daily reported.

NRB will decide whether or not to allow registration of new financial institutions after the study, NRB governor Bijaya Nath Bhattarai said. We will resume registration if it is found necessary, Bhattari added.

The budget for fiscal year 2009/2010 has mentioned 'NRB will review the policies on opening new banks and expanding their branches'.

There have been wide concerns over the number banks vis-à-vis the size of the economy in Nepal. Some 240 financial institutions are serving an economy smaller than Rs 1 trillion.

In addition, there are thousands of cooperatives operating locally without taking permission from NRB.

However, the registration of micro finance development banks has not been suspended.

Likewise, the decision will not affect the registration of six commercial banks that have already applied. The banks that have already applied for permission to operate will be granted permits, Bhattarai said.

Governor Bhattarai is for development of quality in banking sector than mere increment in the number of institutions. We want strong and few financial institutions than weak and many of them, he said.

Bhattarai informed mergers and acquisitions will be promoted. source: nepalnews.co